Criteria that were used to authorize the initial vaccines in December of 2020 were very rigorous.

Philip R. Krause, M.D., Former FDA Deputy Chief for Vaccines: "So what we found in the pandemic was that the criteria that were used to authorize the initial vaccines in December of 2020 were very rigorous and the public deserved that those vaccines be looked at using very rigorous criteria. And that's why the public had confidence in the vaccines then. And this was true whether people were Republicans or Democrats. the trouble was is that there also were other times when the EUA was used, for example the hydroxychloroquine that you mentioned when in fact the standard was much much lower..."